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‘I’ve got you.’ Carefully he rolled over, pulling her up the slope and away from the edge. He felt the sweet weight of her body on his and held her tight on top of him. Professionalism be damned, he wasn’t going to let her go now. She could put that down to the clinic director being unwilling to lose his best nurse if she wanted to.
‘Oh. Thank you... Thank you.’ She was still clinging to him, seemingly unaware of how his body was reacting, hardening against hers. Jaye held her tight, trying to stop his head from swimming.
‘Okay. You’re okay, Megan.’
‘I’m so stupid...’ Her face was grimed with mud and dust, making her eyes look even bluer. So blue that he could have plunged into them, like cool, clear water.
His hand was really hurting now. Perhaps that was just as well because it brought him to his senses.
‘What’s the matter?’ She raised her head from his chest, her gaze searching his, as he twisted to inspect the damage.
‘Nothing...’ He frowned as he caught sight of his hand. It was something.
She levered herself up suddenly against him, and Jaye winced as a delicious reaction to the movement shot through him. For a moment he forgot all about his hand.
But Megan hadn’t. She was sitting on the ground next to him, holding his wrist so that she could see his finger properly. Jaye stared at the sky, trying to ignore the feel of her fingers and not particularly wanting to look at his hand either.
‘I think... It’s swelling already. I think you’ve broken your little finger.’
Oh, well. Megan would deal with it. The thought of experiencing first-hand what it was like to be one of her patients seemed almost worth it. He wondered vaguely if he’d get the special smile. He was looking forward to that.
His eye wandered to the wide scar on the hillside above them where the earth had slipped, leaving a wide trail of mud in its wake. Suddenly, there was no question about him just lying back and letting Megan do whatever she wanted.
‘Megan, look. Up there, you see where the landslip’s come from, right at the top of this hill?’
‘Yes?’
‘Halfway down, right in its path. That’s where we’re going. The next village.’
She let go of his wrist and her hand flew to her mouth. Jaye scrambled to his feet.
‘We need to get there. They might need help.’
‘Wait. Wait, you need help as well.’ She followed him to the car, grabbing his arm.
‘I’m okay. There could be people seriously injured up there.’
She thought for a moment, obviously weighing up the pros and cons in her head.
‘I’ll see to your hand first then we’ll go and take a look.’ Jaye opened his mouth to protest and she fixed him with a fierce glare. ‘Be quiet. This is my judgement call.’
She was right. She was in a much better position to assess his injury—every time he looked at his finger, hanging at an odd angle to his hand, his head swam. And he wasn’t any use like this.
‘All right. Strap it up so I’ve got use of my thumb and forefinger at least. Quickly, and then we’ll go.’
‘It’ll take whatever time it takes...’ Megan obviously knew they needed to be quick as she’d already opened the tailgate
of the truck and was rummaging in the back for the things she needed. By the time he’d walked unsteadily around to join her, she was splashing water over her hands and opening the zip of her sweatshirt to dry them on her T-shirt, which was at least mostly clean. Then she donned a pair of surgical gloves.
‘Sit.’ She pointed to the open back of the vehicle, and Jaye obeyed her. ‘You’re going to have to just grit your teeth for this bit.’
He knew that. Any analgesic that would work fast enough to make a difference to the pain now would leave him feeling too groggy to be of any use later.
‘Just get on with it.’
‘All right. Wait...’ She’d slowed now, carefully feeling along each of his fingers, assessing the damage.
‘Okay, it’s definitely broken. I’m going to splint it temporarily until we get back to the clinic and we can X-ray it.’ She gave him the smile. The one that seemed to make all her patients feel a little better. It hit him hard, making him forget the pain as she deftly applied the finger splint.
